Eepeatkg-actiok foe piajto-foetes



@einen gieten atut @time A REPEATING-AGTION I'R PIANO-FORTES.

JOSEPH HURD, OF BGSTN, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 60,520, dated December I8, 1866.

TO ALL WHOM IT HAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH HUnD,Lof Boston, in the county of Suolk, andState -ot Massachusetts, have invented an improved Repeating-ActionforPiano-Fortes; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken inconnection with the drawings which accompany and form part of thisspecification, is a description otl my invention sufficient to enablethose skilled in the artl to practise it.

This invention consists in the combination and arrangement of thedevices which I employ foi' sustaining 'the hammer, after a blowhas beengiven thereby, in a raised position, so that upon very slight elevationof the key the jack-dy will atvonce assume its position under thehammer-but in readiness to give the repeating blow even in the mostrapid trilling.

To illustrate my invention I have shown it in the drawings, as appliedto the well-known form of action known as the French action, theprincipal view exhibiting in side elevation a section of such an actionwith my improvements added'thereto. a represents the foundation-board,the key-lever, c the back-check for the hammer d, e the hammer-bnt,f theily of 'the jack which is secured to the key-lever and is regulatedthereon by means of screws in the base, g, of the jack in the usual way;L is the rail on which the hammer-shank, z', lies 'when the action is'atrest in its normal positiomsaid rail also serving to receive thescrew-stop j, which acts to throw the ily ofpthejack from beneath thehammer-but; 7c is the 'flange-rail to which the ilange Z is sccnred,said iiange being the piece to which the hammer-but is pivoted. All ofthese parts and their arrangement and operation are old andwell known,and are mentioned only tn show the connection therewith of myimprovements, which I will now proceed to describe. On the hey-lever I)is secured a piece, fm, for the purpose of pivoting thereunto the linkn, which is made of two pieces, an upper and a lower one, joinedtogether by a means for lengthening and shortening the link., themeansshown being a wire with a right-hand screw formed on one end and aleft-hand screw on the other cnd, the bend in the wire forming aconvenient means for turning it. A lever,'0, is pivotcd in the slot inthe ange Z, the lower end of the lever and the upper end of link 'nbeing pivoted together, so that in the rise and fall lof the key-leverI) the lever c is caused to vibrate. A slight spirallspring, p, issecured to the top of the hammer-but, and this spring is connected withlever o by a string or thread with a small turn or wrist-pin, q, forthepurpose ofadjusting the tension of the spring and regulating its actionon the hammer. The drawing shows the parts in the position which theyassume after a blow has been struck by the hammer, with the key-end oflever b almost fully depressed. It will be seen thatthe hummer issustained in an elevated position just below the string r, by theconnection of the hammer-but through the spring and thread with thelever o, the' spring being distended by the weight of the hammer-head,shank, and but. In this position the jack-dy will spring back intoposition under the but whenever the hey-end of the lever b is' allowedto rise slightly-so as to free the fly from the control of thescrew-check j. The parts will then be in condition to give the repeatingblow with slight movement of the key-lever, and any number of suchrepeating blows can be given in succession by vibrations of thekey-lever of slight extent. Without the support of the hammer by thespring Jfull vibrations of the key-lever have to be made to obtainrepeating blows, rendering the execution of u trill very dicult.Themovement of the point of attachment of the thread is similar to themovement of the upper part of the hammer-but, so that there is littleaction of the spring except when the jack-dy is thrown out from undertheibut, and then the function of the spring is to sustain the hammertill the jack-ily resumes its position under the but. Many modicationsin the form of my invention may be made without departure therefrom. Onesuch modification is shown in the small detail drawing, the springnsedbeing of different form from that before alluded to, it being attachedto and forming part of the lever o. My invention is applicable'to formsof action other than thatshown herewith, and may be applied with thesame good results to upright and grand actions. Au incidental advantageiiowing from my invention is that the clothing on the shank rest k maybe dispensed with, as the hammer is with my invention alwayssustainedeither on the jack-dy on the back-check e, or on the upholding, yieldingsupport, and from this .it 'follows that relief is had from the frequentadjustment of the jacks necessitated by compression of the clothing atthe rear end of lever b, which leaves in the normal position of theaction play between the end of the jack-dy and the hammer-but,detraeting from the vigor ofV tlre blow and making the actiondisagreeable to the touch.

I claim, for the purpose of supporting the hammer of a piano-forteaction near its string in position to give a repeatiirgeblow, thecombination of an elastic support oi',v the hammer-but with a lever, o,when this is connected with the key-lever actuating the hammer, by meansof the link n.

Alem-the employment ofthe right and left-hand screw in the link n, forthe purpose of adjusting the position of lever o.

Witnesses: JOSEPH HURD.

J. B. Grosor, Fuss. GOULD.

